Pete.
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- Kent, UK
I'm going to kick off this thread with something I have modified for the better (in my opinion) today.
I bought a new log splitter and like most of these they force you to use both hands on the controls to stop people from getting body parts caught in the mechanism. So there's a largeish push button on the motor and a lever for the hydraulics. Mine is 2-speed so you press the lever half down for fast and all the way down for full pressure.
Right away I found this to be a right pain in the bumper so I took the push button apart to see if I could modify it into a holding switch.
Here are the parts, it's very basic just a plastic top-hat shaped button that holds the contacts closed all the time you're pressing on it:
Looking inside the housing I figured I could make use of these ribs to turn the push button into a switch
So I cranked up fusion 360 and drew these two parts. One is a replica of the top-hat but with added stops and a hex extension on the top to hold a lever. The other is the lever with internal hex. I made the outside hex 0.2mm bigger and it's still a snug fit.
Here's the first part printed. It took four tries with minor adjustments in fact but that's normal for me. This is a half hour at 0.2mm layer so not fine work but it's just a switch.
The operation is very simple you just push it in and turn it slightly and it hooks on the end of two of the ribs. the topp step prevents it going over too far and to release it you just turn it back a tiny bit and it pops out. The original button had 8mm of total in-out travel but only required about 4mm to hold the contacts together so I made this with 5mm travel.
Here's the switch in the on and off position. I haven't pressed the turning lever on fully as it will prevent the switch being fitted in the machine and it's going to go on quite tight.
OFF
ON
The only thing left to do is print a petg rubber seal to keep the weather out, but then I don't expect to be splitting logs in the rain. If it wasn't brand new I'd just cut the top off the blister for the push button.
Now I can leave the motor running putting less strain on the switch and capacitor, and also just use the lever for splitting logs.
I bought a new log splitter and like most of these they force you to use both hands on the controls to stop people from getting body parts caught in the mechanism. So there's a largeish push button on the motor and a lever for the hydraulics. Mine is 2-speed so you press the lever half down for fast and all the way down for full pressure.
Right away I found this to be a right pain in the bumper so I took the push button apart to see if I could modify it into a holding switch.
Here are the parts, it's very basic just a plastic top-hat shaped button that holds the contacts closed all the time you're pressing on it:
Looking inside the housing I figured I could make use of these ribs to turn the push button into a switch
So I cranked up fusion 360 and drew these two parts. One is a replica of the top-hat but with added stops and a hex extension on the top to hold a lever. The other is the lever with internal hex. I made the outside hex 0.2mm bigger and it's still a snug fit.
Here's the first part printed. It took four tries with minor adjustments in fact but that's normal for me. This is a half hour at 0.2mm layer so not fine work but it's just a switch.
The operation is very simple you just push it in and turn it slightly and it hooks on the end of two of the ribs. the topp step prevents it going over too far and to release it you just turn it back a tiny bit and it pops out. The original button had 8mm of total in-out travel but only required about 4mm to hold the contacts together so I made this with 5mm travel.
Here's the switch in the on and off position. I haven't pressed the turning lever on fully as it will prevent the switch being fitted in the machine and it's going to go on quite tight.
OFF
ON
The only thing left to do is print a petg rubber seal to keep the weather out, but then I don't expect to be splitting logs in the rain. If it wasn't brand new I'd just cut the top off the blister for the push button.
Now I can leave the motor running putting less strain on the switch and capacitor, and also just use the lever for splitting logs.
I guess you won't be running it for hours - even on bypass things get rather hot quite quickly - even the small HPUs we use need coolers, but then they run all day, every day.
